This is a blog detailing the creation/evolution/ID controversy and assorted palaeontological news. I will post news here with running commentary.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Perry Leaning Toward Appointing Cynthia Dunbar

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to Texas, Garry Scharrer, of the Houston Chronicle, reports that Texas governor Rick Perry is leaning toward selecting Cynthia Dunbar to replace the ousted Don McLeroy. This is not a step in the right direction. The story notes:

Dunbar, whose district runs from outside Houston to Austin, said she expresses her views so constituents know exactly where she stands.

“I believe constituents deserve to know our thoughts, which is why I have always been boldly transparent,” she said.

But if she is chosen to chair the board, Dunbar said, she would “play a different role” by focusing on leadership. She is confident she could bring the various board factions together.

“I would strive to be just, merciful and humble in my service,” Dunbar said of a potential promotion to board chair.

Merciful? Just who would you need to be merciful to? The story largely focuses on Dunbar's religious attitudes, which are not portrayed in the most positive light. The problem that I and many other people who are TEs have is that there is much in her religious stance that I agree with. But, as with so many people who are in these positions, she doesn't know a bit about the biological sciences and doesn't seem to want to learn.

It is somewhat puzzling, though, that Governor Perry would appoint as head of the SBOE someone who believes that the public schools are "tyrannical" and who homeschooled her children. I don't care much for public schools largely because the quality is usually poor (it is where we live) and we were convinced that we could give them a better education. On the other hand, I don't have the slightest inclination to run for the local school board, let alone the state one.

My concern stems from her public stance against evolutionary theory. I have posted on the views of Ms. Dunbar, here, where she accepted the writings of creationist Jerry Bergman, who misrepresented the work of Nobel Prize winner Werner Arber so badly that Arber issued a public denunciation.